Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Childbirth

Share experiences and get support around labour, birth and recovery.

Flip

Original poster

Lochia stopped after one week

13 replies

schroedingersdodo · 15/05/2010 23:53

I gave birth 2 weeks ago (1 May) and after one week I stopped bleeding. Since then there is a pale yellowish discharge. Very occasionally I find very small amounts of blood in the toilet paper (TMI, sorry), but that's all.

Midwife promises that's absolutely normal, but I still find it a bit weird. I was expecting weeks and weeks of proper bleeding.

Has the same happened to any of you? Can it be a sign of something that is wrong?

Thanks!

OP posts:

gingerkirsty · 16/05/2010 00:08

My midwife said it can be on and off for about 6 wks, so it can stop for a bit and then could start again. So I guess that might happen to you. If not, i would just count myself bloody lucky (pardon the pun)

AnyFuleKno · 16/05/2010 00:09

mine didn't last for long either. You are lucky!

MumNWLondon · 16/05/2010 09:08

mine didn't last long either, around a week of bleeding (only heavy for first 3-4 days), then a couple of week of occasional spotting.

ErnestTheBavarian · 16/05/2010 09:59

My mw and doc were very concerned mine also stopped to soon, and yes it can be a sign that something is wrong, though obv not necessarily, but you should get it checked

Original poster

schroedingersdodo · 16/05/2010 12:50

Well, good to know the same thing happened to other women too. Midwife said it could be on and off, but it has mostly been off for the last week

ErnestTheBavarian, what kind of problem you (and your doctor and mw) have in mind? I posted this message exactly because the mws didn't consider the possibility of any problem, and I wanted to hear other opinions.

OP posts:

Lulumaam · 16/05/2010 12:54

i would have thought that the opposite would be a problem.. i.e lochia starting again, carrying on for weeks, heavy bleeding carrying on for ages... if anything has been retained, then heavy bleeding , pain, bad odour and clots would occur..

for myself, it stopped both times after 7 - 10 days, totally finished after 2 weeks.. had one c.s and one VB, the bleeding iteself was oly heavy for 5 days or so

ErnestTheBavarian · 16/05/2010 15:23

can't remember exactly what they were worrying about but they were v. concerned my lochia was so light and stopped so soon. I had to have anti biotics then some oral spray as well as scans.

They took it v. seriously so I'm surprised that a mw doesn't even consider the possibility of a problem - mine was really concerned about it, as was gynaecologist even though I felt fine.

Original poster

schroedingersdodo · 16/05/2010 17:29

Many thanks for the answers, apparently it's not that rare to have only one week or ten days of lochia.

ErnestTheBavarian, I'm also surprised by the difference in reactions from the doctors and mws re the same thing. Did you have any sign of infection, fever, burning or things like that to make the doctor so concerned? Are you in Germany?

OP posts:

ErnestTheBavarian · 16/05/2010 20:27

yes I am in Germany, and no, I felt fine and was naturally quite pleased to get away with so little, until everyone else took such a dim view of it and got me quite worried. I was ok though.

MumNWLondon · 16/05/2010 21:31

They said it was fine for me but thats probably no consolation - it was the RFH midwifes, I guess the same as you.

BTW it was the same on my older DC - did not last very long at all.

Original poster

schroedingersdodo · 17/05/2010 11:32

ErnestTheBavarian, I'm glad in the end it was nothing serious. I wonder why they got so worried though...

MumNWLondon, I asked about the lochia to the RFH midwives and also to the community midwives (whom I trust a bit more). Both told me it was nothing to worry. However, it's very rare to get any answer from all of them (regardless the question) that is not "It's normal."

OP posts:

Lionstar · 17/05/2010 11:36

With my second birth I only had a week of lochia after having a natural third stage. Apparently the blood loss is higher during a natural third stage, but it means less to come away afterwards.

With my first birth I had the jab for delivering the placenta and 6 weeks of heavy bleeding.

SpawnChorus · 17/05/2010 11:45

My bleeding was odd with all three DCs: a week or so of heavy bleeding, then it suddenly stopped / became very light for about a week, and then it restarted. With DC3 it then went on for bloody ages! I did check with the MW, but there was no pain or bad odour so I just let it run its weird course. I don't know if it's connected, but my periods seem to follow a similar stop/start pattern (but over a much shorter timescale obv).

Flip